Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Announces Breakthrough Creation of Immortalized Silkworm Silk Gland Cell Line with Broad Biotechnology Applications

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (OTCQB: KBLB) ("the Company", "Kraig Labs", or "Kraig's"), a world leader in spider silk technology*, today announced a biotechnology breakthrough with the successful creation of an immortalized silk gland cell line. The Company believes this technology could form the foundation for a next-generation biotechnology platform with potential applications in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, therapeutic peptides, biologically active proteins, and advanced biomaterials.

This breakthrough significantly expands the potential commercial reach of the Company's core technologies beyond recombinant spider silk fibers and textiles. The Company's research division continues to advance next-generation biotechnology platforms designed to unlock new commercial opportunities across multiple biotech sectors.

"This scientific achievement expands the Company's technological reach and opens the potential for entirely new markets," said Kim Thompson, Founder and CEO of Kraig Labs. "While our research team is expanding our portfolio and creating exciting new opportunities, management remains focused on the ongoing expansion of recombinant spider silk production and commercialization."

As part of the scientific advancement announced today, the Company's research team successfully isolated and established immortalized silk gland cells that demonstrate strong proliferative capacity, stable serial passaging, and robust long-term viability in vitro. Early testing has shown exceptionally strong recombinant protein expression and production capabilities, positioning the platform as a promising candidate for scalable industrial bioprocessing and recombinant protein manufacturing.

"The potential applications for this technology are extraordinarily broad," said Xiaoli Zhang, Kraig Labs' Chief Scientist. "We believe these immortalized silk gland cells could become the basis for a highly versatile biotechnology platform capable of supporting future work in therapeutics, vaccines, recombinant proteins, and next-generation biomaterials."

The immortalized cell line has also demonstrated promising adaptability toward suspension culture systems, a critical requirement for large-scale industrial manufacturing and modern bioprocessing. This capability could allow the platform to integrate with conventional bioprocessing infrastructure and support more efficient, scalable, and cost-effective production systems.

"This achievement represents a major scientific milestone for our research team and highlights the depth of the biotechnology platform we have built," added Thompson. "As we aggressively expand spider silk production operations, we are also investing in next-generation technologies that could open entirely new commercial markets for the Company. We believe this development has the potential to create opportunities in biotechnology sectors far beyond textiles. It is another example of our team's leadership in this area of advanced biotechnology."

The Company believes the unique biology of silkworm silk gland cells may provide important advantages for the production of specialized proteins and other biologically active compounds.

"This work demonstrates that Kraig Labs technological lead is not limited to advanced fibers and recombinant spider silks," continued Thompson. "We are building broader biotechnology platforms centered on advanced genetic engineering, scalable biological manufacturing, and recombinant protein technologies."

The Company leadership in biomaterials was recently spotlighted on the cover of the March 2026 issue of National Geographic, highlighting the growing importance and predominance of our work in scaling spider silk production.

Interested persons can order a copy of National Geographic featuring Kraig Labs at https://ngsingleissues.nationalgeographic.com/natgeo-march-2026.

You can purchase a digital copy of the article directly from National Geographic at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/spider-silk-silkworm-genetic-engineering

For the latest updates on Kraig Labs and its pioneering spider silk technologies, visit www.kraiglabs.com.

For details about recent Kraig Labs advancements, please watch the Company's investor updates at www.kraiglabs.com/videos or on the Company's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@kraigbiocraftlaboratories2270.

To view the most recent news from Kraig Labs and/or to sign up for Company alerts, please go to www.KraigLabs.com/news

* For a description of our historical leadership in this technology, please follow this link https://www.kraiglabs.com/world-leader/

Kraig Labs Technology is built on a scientifically engineered silkworm, which incorporates key spider silk proteins to produce recombinant spider silk.

About Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc.

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (www.KraigLabs.com), a reporting biotechnology company is the leading developer of genetically engineered spider silk-based fiber technologies.

The Company has achieved a series of scientific breakthroughs in the area of spider silk technology with implications for the global textile industry.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information

Statements in this press release about the Company's future and expectations other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements." These statements are made on the basis of management's current views and assumptions. As a result, there can be no assurance that management's expectations will necessarily come to pass. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as "believes," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "foresees," "estimated," "hopes," "if," "develops," "researching," "research," "pilot," "potential," "could" or other words or phrases of similar import. Forward looking statements include descriptions of the Company's business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions and goals. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security.

Ben Hansel, Hansel Capital, Inc.

(720) 288-8495

ir@KraigLabs.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5c357dd2-e4d6-4a07-8a9e-ecbce98f9a84